AS Executive Board update graphic. PJ Heusted // AS Review
By PJ Heusted
The Associated Students Executive Board met on Friday, Mar. 12 for their 20th meeting of the 2020-21 academic year.
Black Student Organization Demand Updates
VP for Governmental Affairs Nicole Ballard said that the state budget looks promising enough that the AS is planning to increase their funding request for an Ethnic Studies Institute by $1.6 million.
Housing Budget Proposal
Director of University Residences Leonard Jones and Associate Director of University Residences Kurt Willis spoke as guests to continue discussion of the housing budget proposal from the previous board meeting.
Ballard asked what Western’s plans to do to manage and control future price increases. She said that there have been increases every year for at least the past three years and she wonders if there are other programs or ideas to help lower housing costs.
Jones said that Puget Sound Energy costs and other maintenance expenses increase every year leading to an increase in housing costs. He said that it is unlikely and unrealistic to expect housing prices to ever be lowered.
Ballard asked for clarification about whether or not all housing prices were increasing this year.
Willis said that the base price for triple rooms in the most basic tier will see no increase, but that because meal plan prices will increase that there are no options that will be the same price or less expensive than before.
Ballard and VP for Student Services Carson Brock said that they would like to see Western commit to maintaining an equitable distribution of the rooms within each pricing tier.
VP for Diversity Ranulfo Molina pointed out the increased financial strain that the COVID-19 pandemic created for students and families this year and asked if Western has to increase prices this year or if there are other options to decrease the strain put on families in this specific year.
Jones said that because of the significant decrease in occupancy for the 2020-21 year that they had not considered anything other than increasing housing costs. He said that the university needs a way to pay off their financial commitments but may consider postponing the increase if possible.
Ballard pointed out that other universities in Washington either maintained their dining and housing costs or decreased costs this year.
The board voted unanimously, in an advisory vote, that this budget not be passed.
AS Ethics Board Charge and Charter
AS Senate Pro-tempore Sargun Handa read her comment from the chat aloud before leaving the meeting and said that she feels the at-large students should not be selected using a jury selection method and that other ideas should be considered.
Ballard presented a draft of the charge and charter for an AS Ethics Board to oversee the grievance filing, hearing and appeals process during AS elections. She pointed out that using an application process for this board creates a problem given that most students who apply to be on committees or councils are either AS employees or connected to AS employees which is what they hope to avoid with the creation of this board.
She said that her and AS Office of Civic Engagement Director Adah Barenburg discussed using a jury style selection for half of the at-large positions and an application process to fill the remaining half of the positions.
Molina supported a random selection from all students, Ford said he was concerned about random selection given Western’s demographics and Brock supported the half-and-half selection model as discussed by Ballard and Barenburg.